MOORHEAD – Three people face counterfeiting charges in Clay County District Court after a sharp-eyed store clerk in Barnesville notified police of suspicious bills on Monday.

According to Lt. Stephen Landsem of the Clay County Sheriff’s Office:

A clerk at the Tesoro service station in Barnesville called Barnesville police early Monday after two men tried paying for gas with $20 bills that appeared to be suspicious, based on a pen the clerk used to test the bills.

When the clerk questioned the men about the bills, they left the bills behind and took off in a white mini-van.

Landsem said an alert was sent out and a Minnesota State Patrol trooper spotted the van on Interstate 94 and pulled the vehicle over.

Two men who matched the descriptions of the men who had stopped at the Tesoro store were arrested and the vehicle was impounded.

Landsem said investigators found about $3,700 in counterfeit $20, $50 and $100 bills in the van, along with a printer.

A woman who had been traveling with the men in the van was also arrested, he said.

He did not have addresses for the three, all of whom face at least one felony counterfeit-related charge, according to Landsem, who said the three appear to have been traveling across the country in the minivan.